Turkey’s inflation decreased to 15.01 percent year-on-year in August, the lowest point in the last 15 months, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
In July it was around 16.6 percent, the Hürriyet Daily News reported, adding that the August figure was below expectations.
According to a group of economists polled by the state-run Anadolu news agency last week, the inflation rate had been projected to hit 15.60 percent in August.
“The highest annual increase was 41.42% in alcoholic beverages and tobacco,” TurkStat said.
The Turkish government has increased taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, a move that drew harsh criticism from the secular opposition.
Last month a change in the consumer price index saw a rise of 0.86 percent on a monthly basis, data showed.
Data indicated that the highest monthly rate of change in consumer prices was 19.11 percent in alcoholic beverages and tobacco. It was followed by education with 4.26 percent and housing with 2.04 percent.
Among the main expenditure groups, the highest monthly decrease was in transportation, with a 1.94 percent decline.
In July, Turkey’s central bank cut its year-end inflation forecast for 2019 to 13.9 percent, down from 14.6 percent in its previous report.
The country’s inflation target is 15.9 percent this year, 9.8 percent next year and 6.0 percent in 2021 under a new economic program announced last September.